🔗 Share this article European Cup Matches This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, with 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen. League Table We're at the midway stage of the league phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs. Tonight’s Fixtures These are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm except where noted: Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm) Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm) Juventus face Bodo/Glimt Chelsea v Barcelona Dortmund v Villarreal Leverkusen visit Man City Marseille v Newcastle Napoli v Qarabag Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague Lineup Changes Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap. Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench. Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho. Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski. Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji. Official Vincic (Slovenian). Historical Context The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history. Early Match Updates Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side. Marseille v Newcastle Preview Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise. It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.” We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.